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Promises (2001 film)

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Promises
File:Promises poster.jpgFilm poster
Directed byCarlos Bolado
B.Z. Goldberg
Justine Shapiro
Produced byB.Z. Goldberg
Justine Shapiro
StarringMoishe Bar Am
Faraj Adnan Hassan Husein
Mahmoud Mazen Mahmoud Izhiman
Daniel Solan
Yarko Solan
CinematographyIlan Buchbinder
Yoram Millo
Edited byCarlos Bolado
Distributed byCowboy Pictures
Release datesJanuary 30, 2001
Running time106 min.
LanguageEnglish/Arabic/Hebrew

Promises is a 2001 Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary film that looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspectives of seven children living in the Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Israeli neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

Promises follows the journey of Israeli-American filmmaker B.Z. Goldberg as he meets with seven Palestinian and Israeli children between the ages of nine and thirteen, seeing the Middle East conflict through their eyes. Rather than focus on specific political events, the film gives voice to these children, who, although they live only 20 minutes apart, live in completely separate worlds.

Promises was shot between 1995 and 2000 and was produced in association with the Independent Television Service with partial funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The film has a running time of 106 minutes, and includes Arabic, Hebrew and English dialogue with English subtitles.

In 2004 a sequel called Promises: Four Years On was created. The update programme returns to see how the children from the original film are progressing. It lasts for 25 minutes.

Promises has been shown at numerous film festivals and has received excellent reviews and numerous accolades including:

Nominations

  • Best Documentary, 74th Annual Academy Awards
  • Best Documentary, IFP Spirit Awards
  • Truer than Fiction Award, IFP Spirit Awards

Awards

  • 2002 The NBR Freedom of Expression Citation National Board of Review
  • 2002 The Michael Landon Award for Community Service to Youth Twenty-Third Annual Young Artist Awards
  • 2001 Emmy Award, Best Documentary
  • 2001 Emmy Award, Best Background Analysis
  • 2001 Rotterdam International Film Festival Audience Award, Best Film
  • 2001 Munich Film Festival Freedom of Expression Award
  • 2001 Jerusalem Film Festival Special Festival Award
  • 2001 Locarno International Film Festival Special Ecumenical Jury Prize
  • 2001 San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award, Best Documentary Grand Prize, Best Documentary Golden Gate Award, Documentary Film
  • 2001 Vancouver International Film Festival Audience Award, Diversity in Spirit Award
  • 2001 Hamptons International Film Festival Best Documentary
  • 2001 São Paulo International Film Festival Best Documentary Audience Award
  • 2001 Valladolid International Film Festival Best Documentary
  • 2001 Paris International Film Festival (Rencontres) Audience Award-Best Film



The film Promises is a documentary based upon 7 children ranging between the ages 9-12. It takes place in Palestinian refugee camps to neighborhoods in Jerusalem. It was shot by B.Z. Goldberg between 1995-2000. Whilst the Israeli and Palestinian children are similar in the games they play and the pastimes they enjoy, they are different in language, beliefs, and how their countries fight. The Israelis have the army and the Palestinians use car bombs and suicide missions. Despite living only 20 minutes apart, they live in completely separate worlds.

When the Palestinian boy Faraj explains that car bombing is the right thing to do, you get an understanding at some of the reasons why the documentary was created. It shows how the minds of children are so dramatically influenced by their surroundings. Later, when Faraj moves to the United States he begins to see the situation in the Middle East in a different light as he starts to live with the race of people he was raised to hate. He feels a sense of pity toward the rest of the world for not having the multiracial harmony he observes in the United States.

Yarko & Daniel are two secular Israeli twin boys living in Jerusalem. Daniel says “In war both sides suffer. Maybe theres a “winner” but whats a winner. People on both sides die. Both sides lose.” The film shows that children are very innocent and can be easily persuaded.

When the children meet at the end of the movie they are very open to each other about who Jerusalem rightfully belongs to.

Official Selection of the Following Festivals

External links

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